


hounds of love

by unthank



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, atsumu is so in love he's so sappy, coming home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unthank/pseuds/unthank
Summary: Maybe Shouyou isn't a dog person, not the same way he is, but it's been almost a year since he went to Brazil and Atsumu misses his boyfriend - so can he really be blamed if he gets a new puppy for company?
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 23
Kudos: 161
Collections: AtsuHina Exchange





	hounds of love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trilobites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trilobites/gifts).



> [among your hounds of love and feel your arms surround me](https://open.spotify.com/track/0iluWxTpC9QOdVPg3PROvm?si=6-_4MXaLRGO7kZliX3pDAQ)

Hinata Shouyou wasn’t a dog person. Atsumu knew this.

He knew this when he took Shouyou home to meet his mom and his childhood dog (a big white thing with more fur than should be physically possible, who jumped and licked and almost drowned his pint-sized boyfriend). He also knew this when their neighbour’s dog broke into their tiny city garden and Atsumu, in all of his boyishness, rolled on the floor with the excited animal. Shouyou hadn’t petted the dogs either of those times. He hadn’t let them lick his hand or sit by his feet in their newfound devotion to any human who feeds them.

Shouyou wasn’t a dog person but Atsumu was.

And Atsumu was lonely, you see, he hated being alone and he missed his childhood best friend. And Shouyou was in Brazil, still playing for his team out there. And Atsumu really,  _ really _ hated being alone. So was it really a crime for him to get a puppy to keep him company?

It was a call to Kita and an hour long drive home that solidifies his decision. The puppies Kita showed him were softer than he imagined, their fur stuck up at all angles like they were living, breathing balls of cotton and Atsumu was so weak. He wasn't sure what breed they were, but they’re just as white as his childhood dog. 

It wasn’t a hard decision to make - it was probably far too easy for him to decide. But Atsumu left with one wiggling ball of white fluff in his arms and warmth blooming in his chest.

Puppies were harder to look after than he had previously thought.

Granted, he’d never looked after his childhood dog as a puppy and hadn’t had a pet since, so he didn’t have much experience in the pet-raising department. But this was far harder than he’d ever expected it to be. All Atsumu could think, as he cleaned up the puppy’s litter and gave him a new bowl of food, was that he was so lucky Shouyou wasn’t at home to witness the worst stages of training a brand new puppy. Atsumu knew it’d put him off far more than he already would be.

The thought of Shouyou interacting with an un-potty trained dog was not the interaction Atsumu was hoping for. It’d taken a few weeks, more or less, until he was certain their new puppy would be suitable for his cat-person boyfriend. Not that he was quite sure  _ how _ he planned to tell him.

He was driving to the airport now, the puppy locked in their bedroom and a million bubbles of excitement fluttering in his stomach. It’d been months since he’d seen Shouyou in person. The last time they’d been together had been the Olympics, their hands and bodies intertwined on the stark cardboard beds and the hotel room they booked for a week afterwards. Shouyou hadn’t been to their apartment for close to a year. Their house hadn’t been a home for what felt like an infinite lifetime.

It wasn’t a long drive, under an hour if traffic favoured him - any longer than that and Atsumu was sure he’d die from having to wait to see his boyfriend for any longer. And if it was any longer, he’d have to ask someone to come watch the puppy. Which would involve yet another explanation of why exactly he had a dog. Perhaps getting a new puppy in absolute secret wasn’t the best idea in the world, he realised as the highway stretched in front of him, but he wouldn't let that deter him, not at all. Miya Atsumu didn’t make permanent mistakes, he created new circumstances.

Driving was a good time for him to relax, however, and not think about the potential disaster he had waiting for him at home. Though Shouyou liked to laugh at him for it, Atsumu put on an audio book, settling in for the final thirty minute stretch to the soothing words of Haruki Murakami’s latest novel. Maybe it was a sign of him getting older, but he didn’t care. Not when he felt vastly more clever and well cultured compared to his twin and half his teammates.

Maybe he was just becoming more of a smug asshole as he reached thirty. Maybe he just needed to see his boyfriend again.

Finally, after what felt like far too long on the road, he pulled up into the carpark. Planes flew overhead, heavy thrumming that rang in his ears and Atsumu wondered if Shouyou was up there, or if he was finally on the ground, in the home where he belonged. 

And there he was, all ginger hair and tanned arms and a smile brighter than any sun as he saw Atsumu. 

Atsumu felt a lump form in his throat as he picked himself up, walking faster and faster until he broke out into a dashed run. He scooped Shouyou up, spinning him around and peppering kisses all over his mouth and sun-kissed cheeks. Shouyou’s breathless laughs and increasingly loud “ _ Atsumu-sans _ ” only encouraged him; he wanted to show his baby every bit of love he couldn’t for the past endless months.

They were at home now, Shouyou’s suitcases scattered around the apartment and the TV already on. Atsumu had him in his arms and he didn’t plan on letting him go any time soon. He petted his hair and held him almost impossibly close, incredibly tight. And Shouyou was drifting in and out of sleep, weighed down by the lag of airtime travel and the exhaustion of coming home again.

He was so happy. Atsumu was so deliriously happy. It was like the world around him had realigned and he has every reason to be the happiest man in the world once again. 

But the world had to move on around them, regardless, and Shouyou needed to unpack and shower off the remains of his flight.

He wiggled off Atsumu, ignoring his huffs and grabby hands. Atsumu pouted and Shouyou kissed him, falling back into their routines with the ease of lovers who have never been apart - not in spirit, not in soul.

As Shouyou dragged a suitcase to their bedroom, Atsumu thought, for a moment, that there was something he'd forgotten. He had something important to tell Shouyou, he was sure of it, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember what it was.

“Tsumu,” Shouyou said, the nickname and his quiet, low voice was enough to send a shiver down Atsumu’s spine. “Tsumu, why is there a puppy on our bed?”

He might’ve prepared himself for this conversation. He might’ve run over a million different scenarios in his head. He knew what to say, he’d been planning it, and he’d guessed how Shouyou might react to the fact he bought a dog based on a lonely whim.

He didn’t expect, in any of his hundred of scenarios, that Shouyou would be laughing, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and hands clutching at his belly.

“Shou-kun?” He said, worried and concerned about the sudden outburst. “Baby, are ya okay?”

“Yes, yes!” Shouyou was struggling to breathe.

The puppy sat in Atsumu’s lap, her tongue sticking out and tail wagging furiously against his stomach. She was still small, her paws barely bigger than a teaspoon - and he hoped she’d stay this tiny.

All of a sudden, Shouyou was crawling over to him, his hands cupping Atsumu’s worried face as he kissed him once, twice, too many times to count.

“You haven’t even told me her name yet,” he’s laughing still, kissing him still.

Atsumu blushed and kissed him back, his fingers curling in the wild mane Shouyou called his hair. 

“Maro… As in marshmallow…” he muttered into another kiss.

“Oh god, you’re so adorable.” 

“Shou-kun…”

Shouyou kissed his pout and Atsumu was sure he was trying to kiss him silly. Not that he minded, he’d never mind that. If Shouyou kissed him into an oblivion he could never return from, he was sure it’d be the most perfect way to go, just as long as he was with his baby.

“Tsumu,” Shouyou said then, quiet into his mouth. “I’m sorry I left you alone. I’m here now, I’m here to stay.”

“To stay?”

“Yeah baby, here to stay, forever and ever with you,” he paused. “And with Maro.”

He didn’t have to say anything else then, Atsumu more than knew what he meant. He took Shouyou’s hand, pressed kisses to his calloused fingertips and the gold ring he’d given him just before he left. He whispered half-silent “ _ I love yous _ ” into each kiss, blessing each and every one. Shouyou was home; he’d come home to him after all these months and Atsumu’s lifetime of loneliness had shut the doors behind him. There was no room for that now, none at all, not when the source of all his light was beneath his lips and against the palm of his steady hand.

It was just them now, in the late summer, in between their volleyball seasons. It was just them, and the newest member of their family between them - together with them.

And Atsumu felt as if he was the man who’d come home instead.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this!
> 
> this piece isn't very long, but i find little glimpses into the lives of characters and their relationships particularlydelicious. atsumu and shouyou are a couple who, i think, work best when they're established. both of them are gregarious and extroverted, they love their sport and i believe they'd love each other deeply and wholeheartedly. that's why, at the very end, shouyou accepts maro - because if it makes atsumu happy then it makes him happy
> 
> 1\. the name maro comes from the japanese word for marshmallow, マシュマロ (mashumaro)  
> 2\. the title is the same as the kate bush song _hounds of love_ which comes from her 1985 album of the same name. the lyrics of the song don't particularly fit, but the mood of the music suits this fic i think


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